For this prelate, once one of the most powerful in the Vatican, this new decision by Australian justice is only the reparation of a "serious injustice". Cardinal George Pell was released on Tuesday from Australian prison where he has been held for a year. The ex-secretary of the Economy of the Holy See, aged 78, was sentenced in March 2019 to six years in prison for rape and sexual assault on two altar boys in 1996 and 1997 in Saint Cathedral Patrick from Melbourne (Australia) of which he was the archbishop.
Confirmed on appeal in August, his conviction was finally quashed on Tuesday by the Australian High Court, which acquitted him of five counts of sexual violence, in favor of the doubt.
George Pell, who has always claimed his innocence, left the prison near Melbourne where he had been detained for more than a year and said in a statement that this judgment remedied "a serious injustice".
The “reasonable doubt” put forward
The guilty judgment rendered at first instance in December 2018 in Melbourne had been confirmed last summer by the Supreme Court of the State of Victoria, while at the same time already being weakened since this appellate court was not unanimous. Two magistrates had voted for the guilt of the former archbishop, but the third had ruled in favor of the prelate.
On Tuesday, the seven judges of the country's highest court, the highest court in the country, were unanimous in considering that the Supreme Court of Victoria had “failed to consider whether there remained a reasonable possibility that the offense would 'was not committed', thereby emphasizing the fundamental principle of 'reasonable doubt' which should benefit the accused.
If it clears the penal aspect of a very old case, this decision does not release the cardinal from the risk of civil proceedings. The father of one of the two altar boys, who died in 2014 of an overdose without ever having reported a possible assault, plans to launch requests for compensation.
"He no longer believes in the judicial system of our country"
The case therefore opposed the second altar boy now in his thirties to George Pell, a man who participated in the election of two popes, a prelate very close to Pope Francis and who was even involved in the response of the Church facing pedophilia scandals. The trial therefore revolved mainly around the credibility of the complainant's testimony.
Newsletter - The essentials of the news
Every morning, the news seen by Le ParisienI'm registering
Your email address is collected by Le Parisien to allow you to receive our news and commercial offers. Find out more
Lisa Flynn, lawyer for the father of the deceased altar boy, spoke of her client's "disgust". “He is struggling to understand the decision of the Australian High Court. He says he no longer believes in the justice system in our country, ”she said.
The prelate, for his part, thanked his lawyers, his supporters and his family, stressing that he harbored "no hard feelings" towards his accuser. “I don't want my acquittal to add to the pain and bitterness that many feel; there is certainly enough pain and bitterness, ”he said in his statement.
“However, my trial was not a referendum on the Catholic Church or a referendum on how Church authorities in Australia dealt with the crime of pedophilia in the Church. The question was whether I had committed these horrible crimes, and that is not the case. "
